Packing More Power Into Two Popular Compact Trucks

Supercharge a pickup truck? Old-timers who remember when pickups came with an industrial inline-six, three-on-the-tree, and hard rubber floormats will bristle at the thought. Ford's SVT performance arm started it in '99 and has since honed the blown truck idea nearly to perfection with its F-150 Lightning hot rod. Now the concept has trickled down to compact trucks, a segment that would definitely benefit from a little spice and further improved performance.

Nissan, which won't have its first true full-size truck until '04, is now using a supercharged V-6 as part of its effort to improve the image of its once dowdy Frontier. As a replacement for the Hardbody in '97, the then-new Frontier disappointed prospective buyers with its styling, performance, and driving dynamics. Nissan saved it from oblivion with a Crew Cab version in 2000 and then overnight transformed the Frontier into one of the coolest-looking trucks on the road with a macho facelift for '01.Following a similar path, Toyota updated its compact Tacoma line for '01 with the addition of the fun-to-drive S-Runner sport truck and the utilitarian Double Cab, a worthy match for Nissan's Crew Cab. Toyota doesn't supercharge its Tacoma pickup at the factory, but a Toyota Racing Development blower is available as a dealer-added option, with full factory warranty. These supercharged versions of Nissan and Toyota's four-door cabs have a great deal of appeal to the active youth market. They deliver decent torque and horsepower, are spacious inside, and can tow up to a 5000-lb trailer. Getting a sedan/SUV-like cabin does mean you'll sacrifice bed length (Nissan will offer the Crew Cab's four-door cabin and the standard cab's bed-length for '02), but there's enough space for the driver and three or four friends and their mountain bikes and enough off-road capability within these two 4x4s to chase those bikes along the trails. The Nissan has a handsome, black, leather-trimmed interior with red stitching and S/C (for supercharged) embroidered on its headrests, while the Toyota comes only with a high-quality, durable, though somewhat plain cloth interior.

So which blown compact truck is best for hauling $15,000 worth of carbon-fiber 28-speed fully suspended mountain bikes from the city to the campsite? Matching the Tacoma Double Cab and Frontier for our comparison proved tougher than it looks. Nissan is more liberal with its options and offers both a five-speed manual and a four-speed automatic on all versions of the Frontier. The Tacoma Double Cab comes only with a four-speed automatic, so we reluctantly asked Nissan for an automatic Frontier.The Frontier's factory supercharger, a Roots-type unit co-engineered with Eaton, boosts power from 170 hp and 200 lb-ft in the normally aspirated SOHC 3.3L V-6 to 210 hp and 246 lb-ft; unfortunately, the manual trans can't handle as much torque and its engine variant is rated at just 231 lb-ft. Toyota's TRD supercharger lifts its 3.4L DOHC V-6's horsepower number from 190 normally aspirated to a pretty heady 254 blown. Torque is up from 220 lb-ft to 270 lb-ft of tire-prying twist. But that supercharged level of power comes at a hefty price for the Tacoma: $3137 for the supercharger, plus approximately $500 for installation.

Nissan says that, for '02, the 4x4 Frontier S/C will come with 265/65R17 tires-better suited for offroading than the '01 model's 265/55R17 Firestone Firehawk GTAs. The Tacoma comes with knobbier, skinnier 265/70R16 Bridgestone Dueler H/Ts better suited for trail-running. But because this test was designed as a street and strip showdown, our Frontier had the advantage with the low-profile Firehawks.